U.S. mortgage delinquencies remain at record levels

22 Feb 2010

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U.S. mortgage delinquencies remain at record levels

One in 10 borrowers is seriously delinquent on their U.S. mortgage, with their payments at least 90 days past due or in foreclosure. That compares to one in 16 borrowers a year ago and one in 33 two years ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week issued figures showing that under the Home Affordable Modification Program, the number of permanent loan modifications has increased to 116,000. In Las Vegas last week, President Barack Obama has announced plans to provide $1.5 billion to the five states hit hardest by foreclosures.

California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Nevada will split the allocation based on need, and administered by the state Housing Finance Agencies. The Mortgage Bankers Association says 17 per cent of all loans in California are past due, for example.

Some in the mortgage industry had hoped for more additional broad measures, however.

"The industry's own figures attest to the fact that the damage from the bad lending that's brought down the economy continues virtually unchecked," says Michael Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending. "We hope Congress will keep these figures in mind and agree that American families deserve a fair shake on their finances, including more aggressive foreclosure prevention and a strong watchdog to prevent another lending debacle in the future."

Those are incredibly bad numbers, and I would suppose that most of them are over mortgaged which is why they are not able to sell and get out. The bad lending sounds more like fraudulent lending to me, at least from the point of view of the international bankers that bought the mortgages, although it is obvious they did not check into the quality very carefully. The US still has a long way to go to stabilize their housing prices and see some upward movement.